Speaker - September 2008

“I think it speaks to how powerful the rapport and the communication I have with my audience is that people will be standing on top of their chairs and cheering, or moved to tears, during my show,” Israel says. “It’s just a very powerful connection.”

Others seem to agree.

In recent years, the Florida-based Israel, has become something of a performance art/ public speaking phenom. His artwork is collected by celebrities, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Florida Gov. Jeb

Bush and Broadway star Liza Minnelli. He’s been featured in USA Today, performed and painted live on television and, like countless other rising stars in the art world, inspired both anger and awe among critics.

While the art blog Art Is Hard sniped recently that “the people that go to Michael Israel shows for the art are the same people that go to Medieval Times for the food,” ArtNet News countered with praise, describing Israel as “equal parts Jackson Pollock, Peter Max and Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance,” before concluding: “This guy is going to be huge.”

More accurately, he already is. Just take a look at his burgeoning public speaking business. Israel has been hired to keynote events by such powerful firms as the Walt Disney Co., IBM and Absolute Vokda and has performed for numerous other charities and organizations, all of whom seem to love him just as much for his artwork as for his stunning performances, which truly defy description.

“I know when people are feeling
my energy level, and I know it when I
feel the emotional level in the room,”
he says. “The audience is sitting there
thinking, ‘Look at this guy, spinning
around, throwing paint.’ Then they get a
chill. Maybe it’s a patriotic piece, and all

“I KNOW WHEN PEOPLE ARE FEELING MY ENERGY LEVEL, AND I

KNOW IT WHEN I FEEL THE EMOTIONAL LEVEL IN THE ROOM.”

of a sudden they’re feeling pride. It can be very amazing. It’s really pretty cool.”

rience birthed Israel’s lifelong love for physical fitness and pushed him toward the martial arts, which he says have been a perfect physical complement to the more cerebral and emotional act of painting.

“The painting came forth from my need to express myself,” Israel says.

“You wouldn’t want to see me dance.

I can’t play an instrument. But when I see a movie, or I hear music, I am very moved. I want to explode and do something. The art has become my outlet in that respect. I really believe every individual needs some sort of creative outlet—whether it’s business or a hobby, or art or a sport. Without that, you keep yourself too bottled up.”

Still, Israel wasn’t quite sure how he
was going to make an actual career in
art until one particular day, and one sin-
gular moment, when he realized that,
between the martial arts prowess and
natural artistic ability, he had a unique
performance-art talent—something that
would make him stand out even in the
eccentric world of art.
The moment arrived early his career.

A Rebel with a Cause

So how exactly did he develop this act—this off-the-wall combination of paint, performance and public speaker?

According to Israel, 48, it all goes back to his childhood. He had always shown promise with a paintbrush— though, he points out, his mother didn’t necessarily appreciate it when he used her walls as his canvas; “There’s always been a bit of a rebellious nature in me, I guess,” he admits—but it wasn’t until he found himself enrolled in a school 40 miles from his home that the Michael Israel of today began to take shape.

There was no school bus, Israel remembers, and the commute to and from school was just long enough to make going back and forth every day not quite worth it. So, sometimes, Israel just stayed there.